Here's What We Want the iPhone 7 to Look Like

Hands off our headphone jack.

Look, in just a few hours Apple is going to end months of speculation by introducing its latest iPhone model, which presumably will be called the iPhone 7. Ahead of what's arguably the single biggest day of the year in the consumer technology calendar, several Motherboard staff members took it upon themselves to sketch out what their ideal iPhone would look like. You'll notice certain themes across the designs—we like our headphones just the way they are now, thanks—but each mockup brings a distinct angle that's worthy of celebration, if not manufacture.

The event, which Motherboard will be attending, begins at 1pm ET. Until then!

Image: Jason Koebler/Motherboard

Jason Koebler, Staff Writer: I would like Apple to #thinkdifferent; instead of having zero 3.5 mm headphone jacks, why not have, like, 10? This way, the iHeadPhone will corner the market on wired silent discos and shared-airplane-tiny-screen-Game-of-Thrones viewings. Plus, I feel like Apple hasn't trolled us since at least the Apple Watch, so we're due. (Note: Device and people not to scale)

Image: Nicholas Deleon/Motherboard

Nicholas Deleon, Consumer Tech Editor: My vision is simple. I'd maintain the typical rectangle but would make the entire front one seamless piece of glass. There'd be no physical home button, which instead would be integrated into the display itself. I'd like for iOS to support Android-style widgets, which I've used in the past for information like weather forecasts. And given that I use only a handful of apps, I'd like one huge app front and center (which would be a podcast app in my case), then put less frequently accessed apps on subsequent screens. I'm keeping the headphone jack because I want the phone to be thick enough to have a battery that lasts more than a day of heavy use, and I have one pair of commuter headphones that are basically soundproof, and I don't want to replace them or use an inelegant dongle.

Image: Jordan Pearson/Motherboard

Jordan Pearson, Staff Writer: Finally, a phone for the modern man.

Image: Victoria Turk/Motherboard

Victoria Turk, UK Editor: As you can probably tell my ideal iPhone 7 is basically a drawing of my iPhone 6 because my needs are simple and my imagination lacking when it comes to consumer electronics.

This vision mainly reveals my major personal weaknesses: vanity and clumsiness. Thus it has an extra strong case (with glitter). It is slightly smaller so that I, an average-sized woman, can safely hold it aloft in one hand for selfie purposes without dropping and smashing it like my last phone.

It maintains almost all the iPhone 6 features and keeps the headphone jack because change is scary and I can't be arsed to carry around separate headphones for my phone and laptop.

The main thing is that its battery lasts a whole day (I wanted to put "forever" or even "one week" but thought that was too out there), but I think we have a while to wait for battery tech to advance significantly.

Image: Rachel Pick/Motherboard

Rachel Pick, Social Editor: Most of my suggestions are quasi-jokes, but I stand firm against large phones and the erasure of the headphone jack. I don't know if I'll ever recover from that.

Image: Ankita Rao/Motherboard

Ankita Rao, Associate Editor: Our phones promote multitasking and distraction, so I thought it was only fair that Apple account for my now messy brain by making it impossible for me to lose earbuds and chargers like I do now, all the time. And since phones are often the first line of defense between me and creepy people, mace seems like a nice touch.

Image: Derek Mead/Motherboard

Derek Mead, Editor in Chief: All I've ever wanted is a phone with a good camera and a good battery that integrates well with streaming devices like Sonos and Chromecast. We're getting close but not quite there yet. I've had an iPhone for about six months, which is the first time I've owned one—I couldn't live with a tiny screen—and while the tradeoffs between iOS and Android haven't changed in awhile, I think we're close to Android take the lead. Google needs to figure out how to force service providers to push software updates though, that is insane. Also insane: iOS not letting me arrange app icons however I want.

Image: Ben Sullivan/Motherboard

Ben Sullivan, UK Staff Writer: This is how I think I would want my phone but when I say phone what I really mean is battery because I'm fed up with the dark cloud of charging forever following me around. This battery lasts for 14 days. It folds in half because big things suck to hold in your hands unless they're meant to be big. One screen always shows Google Maps because that's really all I use my phone for now, the other is for your apps. The firestarter is important too. As is the retractable razor edge. Oh look a headphone jack too haha.

Image: Lara Heintz/Motherboard

Lara Heintz, Associate Producer: In an ideal world, my iphone would include a generator that i could power with kindling so I wouldnt have to charge it all the time it would also biodegrade over time. But realistically I'd just like for it to be a tiny bit smaller, with more intuitive app organization. I use my phone mostly for calendars and email so being able to swipe up or down and just get fully integrated access to this stuff would be clutch. Being able to double tap to call up a select menu of your most used apps. Oh and i'd like to keep my headphone jack. Apple is this too much to ask?